Part 1 – What Have Wii Become?

I had been aiming to write something like this but found some of the key points I’d touch on already addressed in Alex’s “A Second Video Game Crash?” I suppose I’ve got enough to say that makes it worthy of its own article so without further ado; here is my take on what’s happening in the game industry…TODAY.

While I may not be some sort of untouchable, game industry guru, I, like many of you, carry within me a passion for video games that burns so strongly we believe it can guide us through the stagnant and uncertain time our hobby faces.

The Wii is plagued with shovelware so abundant that some would try and use it to define the system. Microsoft and Sony have been practically offering the same thing they have been for the past few years and while this may not sound like a bad thing to some people, those that have developed the insight to think ahead will see the problem with this sort of planning.

I’m going to focus on matter of the Wii before I address the potential folly of Microsoft and Sony. The Wii has been a ridiculous success. With the least amount of graphical prowess it has become the best selling console, like the PS2 was last generation, and sold so well that Nintendo can even boast that Wii Sports has sold even more than the original Super Mario Bros. On this silver cloud of new exciting things is a dark lining of reluctant publishers and confused developers that are not only unsure how to approach the Wii but don’t seem to understand the audience that have carried it to victory.

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There is a pretty heinous trend that seems to be appearing more and more in this next-gen era, and it has already started to destroy some potential good times. I am referring to the fact that games these days are starting to avoid or limit one-console multiplayer for the ability to play online with friends.

In particular, I must bring up Left 4 Dead.

Picture renting the game with the intent of making a weekend of it. You tell your friends to come over Saturday night for beers and zombies. Truly it will be an event that the gods themselves might envy. You set up, every-one’s settled in, you turn on your console and… you come to find out that you can only have two players per console. The rest of the night everyone is arguing about whose turn it is.
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Everybody who has played any online game and has visited its forums, knows the problem. Whiners. There is always a group that whines about how something is too strong, this skill is too weak, this quest is too hard, this gun is too accurate. No matter how much you enjoy the game, they will always find something to whine about. In reality, these whiners deal more damage than you may think.

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